Play Blackpool 2015

Having attended last year (see video below) we were anticipating something big and bold and the line up has promised this. Not only is there now three days of retro gaming fun as opposed to two last year - there is an amazing arcade line up, fantastic guests and competitions galore!

Play Blackpool is sponsored by industry supporters with www.funstock.co.uk being the main sponsors of the event. They will be attending with a vast range of goodies for sale - as well as their Blackpool competition prize of an amazing Retron5 console.

At the event what's there?

Jeff Minter in full effect! With a Llamasoft triple bill for retrogaming fans.

This includes the Atari Film Screening Introduction! Hear Jeff be part of the event and kick off the screenings with a few anecdotes about Atari back in the glory days and before he left the company.

You will also get to try out the completed version of TxK VR and this is an event exclusive having since been withdrawn. Finally get yourself to the hotel conservatory to ASK JEFF anything you want about his many years in the games industry. A must for retrogaming fans.

GamesYouLoved at Blackpool 2014:

For racing fans this is a great feature: Steve Lycett and the Sumo Digital team will be doing an exclusive talk on the Sunday to fans of driving games. Many years of being involved in games at Sumo will be brought to life through Steve's tales on the stage in Blackpool.

We're looking forward to this one! Double - Double! We have not one - but both of the Oliver Twins in attendance on the Saturday.

Andrew and Philip Oliver will take part in two talks on the Saturday of the show at 1pm and 3pm so get yourself to both if you are big fans like us. The first talk at 1pm will look back at their back catalogue and the life of a bedroom coder in 1980s which will be a fantastic nostalgia trip.

At 3pm they talk about their ambitious new project, SkySaga: Infinite Isles, and some of the team will be on hand with the game playable on the expo floor. We have a review for this coming up after Blackpool having put it to the test just recently. The guys are quoted as saying:

“We’re very much looking forward to Play Expo in Blackpool in May where we’ll be reminiscing about the 80’s and making classic games like the Dizzy series and many other best sellers for Amstrads, Spectrums and other 8 bit computers. Since then we’ve been leading teams making games for virtually every gaming platform and we’re particularly proud of our latest game, SkySaga. We look forward to presenting this game and giving people the opportunity play SkySaga in the expo area. We hope to be around most of the time to chat to people about the games industry.”

What else..? How about Hewson game fans. Well again you are in for a treat as Andrew will be at the event to take the stage. We're excited just ahead of the Hewson Music soundtrack being released and we are lucky to have a copy.

This review of the amazing sounds within the CD are on it's way. A special guest too will be in the form of Artist David Rowe. Famous for his retro art and TV art project with Knightmare - the popular 80s kids programme. James Pond, Speedball and Ant Attack were just some of the box games that adorned David's work. And the arcades...this is just some of the list (below) and as we are at the event we'll be tweeting many more. In fact make sure you follow us on twitter for up to date tweets and images.